Is Trolls 3 based on a true story?

Trolls 3 is set to bring the franchise to a new emotional height, but that story may actually be based on a true story in real life.

Trolls 3, AKA Trolls Band Together is the anticipated threequel to the Trolls series. After the second film was the first movie shown in cinemas after global restrictions, the franchise has become somewhat infamous in the world of cinema.

Because of this, the upcoming third film is no doubt going to be talked about just as much. And since a new trailer has just dropped, everyone and their kids are hyped for what’s coming.

But what may surprise you, and get you even more hyped for the film, is that fact that its story might be based on a true story. No, we’re not kidding.

Is Trolls 3 based on a true story?

Yes, but not quite in the way you’d think.

Obviously, the story of a magical Troll forming a band with his long-lost brother isn’t a biopic of anyone, but the emotional crux of the film is based on someone’s true experience.

Dexerto was able to interview franchise creators Walt Dohrn and Gina Shay, and when asked about how they came up with the story, this is what they had to say:

Dohrn: We wanted to tell a family tree story since Trolls 1. Plus it’s [Shay’s] story.

Shay: I have some long-lost siblings. A lot of people I think are finding this out with all the new DNA surprises.

Dohrn: We really pull from a lot of our own personal experiences. You know, the Trolls movies are so wild and psychedelic and fantastic and this kaleidoscopic world, full of color and fun, but really underneath it all are really personal things we’re dealing with our own siblings and our own families. Especially coming out of the pandemic, we were developing this during those beginning times, we were all with our families quite a lot, or separated from them, so a lot of that story comes out of that.

Shay: And just experiencing family dynamics, and how there’s a lot of dynamic that siblings have when they’re younger in the family and when they get older sometimes they can’t let go of some of the things of the past, and this is kind of about that. This is about acceptance, and accepting who you now are as a person, and having agency in that sibling relationship as well. And respect, respecting your siblings maybe more than maybe you did before.

Dohrn: John Dory, that’s Branch’s oldest brother, he has a lot of attributes my own big brother did. A little bit of that dynamic we’re pulling from there.

We received this interview in the wake of the film’s official trailer dropping, so make sure to check that out below:

Trolls Band Together will premiere in cinemas in November 2023. Find out more about the movie here.